Inglesham page 3
Page 3 continued.
 
The roofs have necessarily been repaired through the centuries but they are all ancient. The chancel roof was followed by those over the aisles in the late 15th century and the nave in the 16th century. The doors, too, are worth noting, particularly the early 14th century north door with foliate hinges.
 
The floors are old and uneven, with many ledger slabs with good letter­ing — and some less refined but moving in their simplicity — and a huge stone in the chancel with the matrix of a knight’s brass
 
knights tomb long wall painting
 
Most of the walls are covered with paintings, often overpainted even seven layers thick. Ill-considered overpainting in the past has left a confused but fascinating superimposition of subjects including l5th-century censing angels above the chancel arch, an early 14th-century doom on the east wall of the north aisle and 19th-century texts, Creed, Lord’s Prayer and Ten Commandments overlaying more. Every century from the early 13th to the early 19th is represented. Certainly the early masonry painting on the chancel walls and the figurative decoration of the remains of the reredos are unusual remnants.
 
The earliest timber fittings are the screens to the north and south Isles. They probably date from the final structural changes in the late 15th or early 16th century.
 
side screen
box pews and wall painting
 
The pulpit is Jacobean, as are the pews in the eastern bay of the nave. These have, however, been cut down but the original height can be seen at the back of the block.
 
pulpit font
 
The chancel pews and communion table are possibly as late as the Restoration of Charles II. The communion rails are 18th century. The font is 15th century.
 
The Royal Arms are a curiosity displaying the Hanoverian Arms pre-1801 but the initials and date of William IV, 1830.
 
In the churchyard are many well-carved headstones and a preaching cross. Some traces of the mediaeval village are to be seen in the fields. It declined with the passing of the wool, trade, which had enriched so many churches in the neighbourhood. Further information on it can be obtained at the Corinium Museum in Cirencester.
 
Inglesham church was declared redundant in 1979 and vested in The Churches Conservation Trust. The main problem in caring for the church is to preserve what Mark Chatfield has called its ‘studied informality’ while arresting the damaging effects of age and weather. This has been the responsibility of John Schofield of Architecton of Bristol. Under his supervision the wall-paintings are gradually being stabilized and, where it is safe to do so, revealed by Jane Rutherfoord.
 
PLEASE NOTE  NO artefacts or any items of value are left on the church premises overnight. All are secured off- site.
 
My thanks to :
 
The Churches Conservation Trust for their kind permission to re-produce their text, available from....
 
89 Fleet Street, London, EC4Y 1DH. 

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